Why was sally so protective of Percy
by JJ the writer
Summary: A one shot of what happened to sally when Percy was a baby...


Sally Jackson was heading for the candy shop she worked at on September 11th, 2001. She checked her watch to make sure she wasn't late. It was almost 8:00 am.

She got to the candy shop where she worked at 8:30 am. As she tied an apron around her waist, she heard the unmistakable noise of a low-flying plane overhead.

The candy shop Sally worked at was only a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center. It had a perfect view of the Twin Towers. She glanced out the window and saw the low-flying plane. It was heading towards the World Trade Center. She knew it would have to fly up in a moment, because if it didn't, then it might hit one of the skyscrapers. New York City was full of skyscrapers, and it was dangerous for a plane to be flying that low.

She walked behind the counter and smiled at the teenaged boy standing there. He was about fifteen years old. His eyes were blue-bright blue. He had sandy blonde hair. "May I help you?" she asked, as the clock switched to 8:32. She didn't know why, but she got the feeling that something bad was going to happen any moment now. She watched the clock from out of the corner of her eye.

"Can I have a bag of jelly beans?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. "That'll be a dollar and six cents." "Okay" he replied

She nodded. "Well, here's your jelly beans," she said, pushing the bag towards him.

She could still hear the plane flying overhead. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that it was lower than before.

"Thanks," the boy said. "And here's your money." He shoved it across the counter to her. Sally took it with a smile and put it the cash register.

The clock now said 8:40.

"Well, good luck on your quest," Sally told him.

"Thanks," the boy said. "I hope one day I can meet your son. I have a feeling we could be good friends."

"I hope so," Sally said. "I want to send Percy to Camp Half-Blood, but I'm just not ready to let go of him yet."

He nodded. "Well, I'll be waiting to welcome him into camp when you are ready to send him."

 _BOOM!_

Sally and the boy both jumped. "What just happened?" the boy exclaimed.

Sally's eyes travelled past the boy, looking out the window of the candy shop. "Oh, my gosh," she gasped.

The plane that had been flying low had crashed into the North Tower.

The boy looked over his shoulder. "What happened?" he exclaimed, staring at the North Tower in horror.

"A plane crashed into it," Sally gasped.

Sally's manager came out from the back then. "What was that noise?" he demanded. Then he saw the North Tower, which had smoke billowing from it, and his eyes widen. "What happened?" he gasped.

"A-a plane..." Sally stuttered. "It crashed into the tower...oh, my gosh..." She was frozen with horror.

The manager ran outside. Sally and the boy looked at each other. "How could this have happened?" The boy asked.

Sally just shook her head. She untied her apron and threw it on the counter. "Stay here," she told the boy. "I'm going to see what I can do to help."

She ran out of the candy shop.

She stared at the North Tower. The plane had crashed somewhere near the top. Smoke and flames were billowing out from the windows.

"Oh my gods," she gasped. "All those people..."

"What's happening?" came the boy's voice from behind her.

She turned around. "I told you to stay in the candy shop!" she said.

"Look, I'm a hyperactive ADHD demigod," the boy said. "I can't just stay in a candy shop while _that's_ going on."

Sally sighed, but didn't object any farther. "What can we do?" she wondered. She saw people running out of the North Tower, and people coming from the South Tower to come and help.

The boy just shook his head. "I hate this," he said. "I hate wanting to be able to do something, and not being able to do a damn thing. It's just not right."

Sirens started wailing in the distance. _Firefighters,_ she thought numbly.

Another plane flew low overhead. It almost looked like it was heading for the South Tower.

She started to pray. _Oh, Poseidon, please, please do anything that is within your power, anything at all. Save all those innocent people...Please, please, please..._

Their prayers were said in vain.

Sally suddenly found herself worried about Percy. Even though she knew he was miles away from the World Trade Center, at the boarding school she had sent him to, she couldn't help worrying about his safety.

Fire trucks pulled up by the World Trade Center. Sally didn't see how they were going to put out a fire in a _skyscraper,_ but she supposed they must have been trained for situations like this. Plus, she was panicked and couldn't think clearly.

"Come on," the boy said. He pushed through the crowd, trying to get closer to the World Trade Center.

Sally hesitated, and then followed him.

They were about a block away when things went from bad to worst.

The other plane Sally had seen, that had looked like it was flying for the South Tower, hit the South Tower.

Another jaw-rattling boom shook the earth.

"Oh, my gods!" Sally exclaimed, as she watched, horror-struck, as the South Tower also exploded into flames.

The boy, who seemed so cool and put-together minutes earlier, was now clinging to Sally's arm like Percy would when he got scared. "What is happening?" he gasped.

Sally was too shook up for words.

The boy's lips moved in silent prayer as the Twin Towers burst into flames. Even from this distance, Sally could hear the screams of the poor, innocent souls trapped in the World Trade Center. The people who were slowly dying.

She burst into tears. The boy shook his head. "What kind of sick, twisted person would do something like this?" he wondered.

"Do me a favour," Sally whispered. "Be my son for the day."

The boy looked at her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Please," Sally begged. "Just for the day...be my temporary son." Tears glistened in her eyes.

The boy almost smiled. "Alright," he said. "Alright, Mrs..."

"Jackson," Sally said. "Sally Jackson."

"Alright, Mrs. Jackson," the boy said. "Consider me your temporary son for the day. I'm Luke Castellan, by the way."

Sally hugged Luke tight to her, imagining that it was Percy that she was holding.

"Hey," Luke said. "The mayor's here."

She looked up. The limousine of the mayor of New York City had arrived.

"Oh, that's good," she said.

Then the newscaster said something she couldn't believe. "The FBI has just reported that there are reports of planes being hijacked. These reports are under investigation as we speak..."

Sally and Luke watched, horror-struck, as people began jumping out of the towers, sealing their own fate. Sally closed her eyes as millions of people jumped out of the towers.

"This cannot be happening," she moaned.

"Oh, my gods," Luke said. "It's not just the Twin Towers. They went after the military, too." He shook his head. "This is horrible."

Just then Sally heard a strange, sucking noise. She looked up-and saw the South Tower collapsing into itself.

"Oh, gods," she gasped. She grabbed Luke's arm and jerked him back several steps.

"Hit the dirt!" someone yelled from behind her.

She pulled Luke to the ground as the South Tower collapsed.

She felt a surge of air as the 110 floors of the South Tower fell kept her face pressed against the ground as dirt, debris and smoke clouded from the building.

Hesitantly, she looked up.

The South Tower had collapsed. Where hours earlier had stood a 110-story building was nothing but debris and ashes. Even from a block away, the ground was covered with dirt, and the city air was filled with smoke.

Luke coughed. "Gods, that's a lot of smoke," he stated bluntly.

If the situation had not been so tragic, she might have laughed.

The newscaster coughed. "The South Tower has collapsed. The odds of the North Tower collapsing are great..."

Sally shook her head. "What is this world coming to?"

Luke's eyes were full of pain. "I've never seen anything so horrible," he said. "Why aren't the gods doing anything?"

His expression was so sad it made her wonder what he was thinking about. But this was not the time nor place to ask something like that.

Luke looked like it was taking everything he had not to start crying, like he thought he had to keep it together, for Sally's sake.

Sally sobbed. "This is the most horrible thing I've ever seen."

"Can things get much worse?" Luke asked rhetorically.

Sally suddenly heard that sucking noise again. "Oh, no," she whispered, hardly daring to look up. "Please don't tell me..."

"The North Tower is collapsing," Luke said.

Sally grabbed Luke's arm and pulled him to the ground again, along with herself, just as the North Tower collapsed in a fury of smoke and flames.

Sally coughed and looked up. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.

"Oh, gosh," she gasped.

The North Tower was gone. Just like the South Tower, it had collapsed into itself.

She closed her eyes at the unspeakable horror.

Both Twin Towers, gone, in one day. In one morning, the Twin Towers had both collapsed. Destroyed by evil. So many families killed. And all because of terrorists.

This was injustice.

She stood up shakily, pulling Luke up with her. Luke's eyes, once bright blue and full of childlike innocent, were now dully burning and full of horror as he stared at where the World Trade Center had once stood.


End file.
